Burning Man's main ticket sale is next week, and - if you do not register by noon Friday - you have no chance at a ticket during the sale. Registration began Wednesday and lasts through noon Pacific Time on Friday.

Burning Man, which attracts 68,000 people to Northern Nevada's Black Rock Desert each year, will be Aug. 26-Sept. 3 this year. The theme for the 2018 giant art party is "I, Robot."

Approximately 26,000 tickets are available at $425 each during next week's main sale, which begins at noon Pacific Time on Wednesday, March 28. In years past, tickets have sold out in less than 30 minutes. The number of people trying to buy tickets is often twice the number of tickets available.

Approximately 10,000 vehicle passes are available at $80 each. Prices of tickets and passes do not include the applicable fees and taxes.

You can buy a maximum of two tickets and one vehicle pass per order. You may not use the same credit card to purchase multiple orders, and the name on the credit card used to purchase is the name on the ticket order. MasterCard and Visa are the only credit/debit cards accepted.

You can only register to buy tickets in the main sale if you have not previously bought tickets through the Directed Group Sale. The main sale is not the final sale of tickets, but rather the sale where the most tickets are available.

Alternatives to purchase tickets after the main sale include:

* Feb. 14- April 16 - Low-income ticket program requires an application for $190 tickets. The application period could end earlier if tickets sell out.

* April 4: Limited ticket sale (tickets are $1,200 each)

* April 11-25: Secure Ticket Exchange Program a.k.a. STEP is a secure way to buy tickets from ticketholders who are unable to use their tickets for whatever reason.

* Aug. 1 - OMG Sale is a last-minute sale of tickets; registration is required for the sale between July 25-27.

Burners who decide to pursue private sales of tickets are cautioned to watch out for scams on sites such as Craigslist and Ebay. Ticket prices are known to soar on secondary sale sites where scalpers resell tickets for thousands of dollars.

The event has sold out annually since 2011, prompting the Burning Man organization to consider increasing the number of attendees gradually pending approval from the Bureau of Land Management.

The event, which is currently capped at 68,000 participants, already attracts closer to 80,000 people when counting government officials, service vendors and some volunteers. Burning Man organizers are asking the BLM to hike the cap to at least 80,000 - at most 100,000 - though the growth would be long-term, not immediate.

The BLM could approve or reject a proposal as soon as next year, though the BLM and Burning Man are in the process of a public review process currently.

Burning Man 2017
Mairi Clairebowser of Scotland, left, Ben Madden of Ca. pose for a friend to take photo of them with their faces covered in dust a Burning Man in Gerlach, Nev. on August 30, 2017.
Andy Barron